“We’ve won the battle, but not the war,” Ľudovít Ódor, a former prime minister and current lead candidate of the opposition Progressive Slovakia for the EU election, told POLITICO. “The court showed that it won’t let anyone take its power by obstructing, which is a strong signal.”
European Parliament Vice President Martin Hojsík (Progressive Slovakia) also accused the ruling party of obstruction. Hojsík alleged the president of the Slovak parliament, Peter Pellegrini, “is not signing it [the law] in order to hold back publication in the Official Journal.”
Hojsík told POLITICO that the government is “trying to increase the pressure on the court … actually doing whatever technicalities they can do in order to prevent Constitutional Court from ruling on it.”
Patrícia Macíková, the spokesperson for Pellegrini’s party, pushed back against the allegations. She told POLITICO in an email the request to promulgate the amendment had been submitted to the Ministry of Justice “within the deadline.”
In its ruling, the Constitutional Court did not, however, block the abolition of the Special Prosecutor’s Office, which handles sensitive cases related to corruption — including those connected to officials from the ruling Smer party. The institution will cease to exist on March 20.
The European Commission sent a letter to the Slovak justice minister in December warning the government not to abolish the prosecutor’s office. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office also expressed concerns over the move by Fico’s government.
Fico said at a press conference Thursday that getting rid of the special prosecutor was a “major political objective.”
Nicolas Camut contributed reporting.
This story has been updated.
